Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Hmmm, what should I write about this time?

It's December. So, it's ski season. It's always CrossFit season.

With the warmer weather we've had the past two days, some local friends have been out fly fishing and I've seen photos of a few nice trout and steelhead taken in Lake Champlain tributaries. But, I think I'm done with fly fishing until spring.

Christmas is coming. But, I'm so busy at work that even on 12/4, I've barely thought about Christmas. Work is really busy and money seems to be getting tight at our little company. This is not the ideal time of the year to be closing deals, but we really need for that to happen soon. Maybe worries about the company have tempered my enthusiasm for Christmas.

The election is still over. But, the never ending battles in Washington continue. "Blamestorming" is still the way it all works. Just yell louder than the other guy and blame things on him. Truth be damned. (And I mean to direct this at both sides.)

But, I've been skiing. I've been doing CrossFit. As long as it snows, the mountain is always there, ready for me to spend a day working or relaxing on the slopes.

And while CrossFit isn't necessarily relaxing, it's always there to test me.

Over the weekend, I trained some of our younger ski instructors. On Saturday and Sunday, I had 8 female high school students with me, all of whom will be coaching our younger students. I thought we had two good days on the snow, and I'm hoping their enthusiasm carries over into their teaching when we start with students in two weekends. The weather got a little ugly late in the weekend and it's still that way. But, the rain will end, it will get colder, the snow guns will make more snow, and it will snow eventually. I'm looking forward to the rest of the ski season, especially the time spent with my season-long students.

One of my goals for CrossFit this year was 150 workouts. At the end of May, I had only done 50 CF workouts, which really put that in doubt. But, I've picked it up since then, and I need 14 more workouts this month to get to 150. I think my goal for next year will be 175-180, but I don't ever really see myself doing more than that in a year.

Last night was the start of a 10 week Olympic lifting program at CF. We worked on the clean and jerk last night. We did 3x1 of light weight C&Js, going through the full range of motion - squat cleans followed by a split jerk. Then we did 3x3 of clean pulls and 3x3 of clean deadlifts. After that, we did 21-15-9 reps each of deadlifts, toes to bar, and kettlebell swings. I probably kept my weight a little bit too light for this workout and finished in just over 7 minutes.

Tonight is heavy back squats, moderate front squats, and then a short workout that includes burpees, lateral bar hops, muscle snatches and overhead squats. My shoulders will probably be unhappy after this one.